Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that now that gays and lesbians can serve openly in the military, the Defense Department needs to look at how it can accommodate transgender individuals.

Hagel told ABC’s This Week that “the issue of transgender is a bit more complicated, because it has a — a medical component to it.”

The American Psychological Association defines transgender as “an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.” Pfc. Bradley Manning, the day after being sentenced in the Wikileaks scandal, changed his name to Chelsea and has requested hormone therapy in prison. Army records continue to identify him as a male even though he has requested to only be called female.

“These issues require medical attention,” Hagel said of the general issue of transgenders, who are barred from military service under current policy. “Austere locations where we — we put our men and women in — in many cases, don’t always provide that kind of opportunity. I do think it — it continually should be reviewed.”

“I’m open to that, by the way. I’m open to those assessments, because, again, I go back to the bottom line. Every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it,” he added. “This is an area that we — we’ve — we’ve not defined enough.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality said in a statement after Hagel’s remarks that it looks “forward to working with the Pentagon to end these outdated rules that harm our military.”

“This willingness to evaluating changes to the medical regulations is overdue but very welcome,” said NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling. “If the Secretary were able to meet and talk with the trans service members I’ve met, he’d understand the answer is self-evident. These are amazing people who serve even though they must hide a basic part of who they are.”

The group cited its National Transgender Discrimination Survey that showed “about one-fifth of all transgender adults are veterans, making transgender people approximately twice as likely as others to serve in the military.”

Bridget Johnson is a veteran journalist whose news articles and opinion columns have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe. Bridget first came to Washington to be online editor at The Hill, where she wrote The World from The Hill column on foreign policy. Previously she was an opinion writer and editorial board member at the Rocky Mountain News and nation/world news columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
She is an NPR contributor and has contributed to USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, Politico and more, and has myriad television and radio credits as a commentator. Bridget is Washington Editor for PJ Media.

I don't think it's insane for the organized enemies of the United States, who currently control it, to want to destroy this country. That is their goal and they have a rational strategy to pursue that goal.

But it is insane for anybody who believes in all that the United States stands for to accept in any way what they continually cram down our throats.

Just as I know that people who are homosexual have been successful in the armed forces, I worry greatly about transgendered people.People who are confused about their sexual identities, especially those who are confused to the point of feeling like men in women's bodies or vice versa, are more likely to be distracted. I don't think homosexuality is a mental illness but I think transgender probably is a form of mental illness and one that would make adaptation to military life difficult.The military also has guidelines related to depression, bipolar disorder, and other problems that would be likely to make effective military service a problem.I can believe that Hagel and Obama don't realize that this is much more problematic than accepting servicemembers who are homosexual.

I can believe it. Hagel and Obama are idiots. Anyone who thinks that barracks are the best place to work through mental disorders is an idiot. As a woman, I am offended by these people who can't accept being a man and try to compensate by creating a fantasy of what it's like to be a woman. Their stupid fantasies are demeaning to women.

Howdy HKYour concerns about a society that denigrates values we call "masculine" -- physical prowess, assertiveness, a readiness to do physical battle if need be -- are all valid to me.Transgender disorder is some poorly-understood mix of physical and mental symptoms that leave a person confused about whether to identify as male or female. Completely different problem.Given the special status accorded to transgender in some environments, it's possible that some people are claiming to be transgender as more of an attention-getting device than anything else. I dunno if that's true.

Howdy vbI'm not offended by transgender people but I think it's an actual illness. As such, deploying such a person to a forward location creates serious issues, as would deploying a person with diabetes.

The COs are told to pick a certain number of enlisted men to have a "mandatory enlightenment" towards the female perspective and immediately carted off for surgery and their first round of hormone replacement therapy.